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Displaying items by tag: Minimising Whale Strikes

The Nautical Institute is hosting a free webinar: Minimising Whale Strikes, Enhancing Mariners' Awareness of these Majestic Creatures which is to be held on Wednesday 15th February (9.00-10.30 GMT).

Seafarers have a love of the oceans and take great joy from sharing the environment with marine life. In fact mariners and shipping companies are often considered protectors of the oceans as can be seen by the huge efforts being made by individuals and the industry as a whole to prevent pollution at sea.

Sadly, despite our best efforts, strikes on marine mammals such as whales and dolphins continue to have an impact.

This Nautical Institute webinar seeks to explore the risk of whale strikes, help seafarers understand the nature of these mammals and identify how, with a bit of awareness, we can avoid striking them inadvertently and reduce harm against these magnificent animals which share our lives.

The following webinar Speakers are: MSC Vice President of Sustainability, MSC Mediterranean Shipping, Stefania Lallai; Dr Simon Berrow, Chief Science Officer and CEO of Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG); Sibéal Regan, IWDG Education and Outreach Officer; and National Geographic Explorer, Dr Rui Prieto, to discover the steps we can take to avoid whale strikes.

The free webinar from The Nautical Institute will be interactive, inviting feedback and questions from attendees and will provide a certificate of participation to all those who attend.

To register for this webinar click here

The Nautical Institute is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with consultative status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Our aim is to promote professionalism, best practice and safety throughout the maritime industry and to represent the interests of our members.

Irish Whale & Dophin Group (Survey Weeks)

The IWDG was founded in 1990 to establish an All-Ireland sighting and stranding scheme and to campaign for the declaration of Irish territorial waters as a whale and dolphin sanctuary.

For further information visit the IWDG website, noting that dates for their survey weeks are now open for those to join them on board their research vessel, the RV Celtic Mist. 

By becoming a member, come on board to help us collect important data on whales, dolphins, and porpoises in our waters. For details visit this LINK: 

Published in Marine Wildlife

About Quarter Tonners

The Quarter Ton Class is a sailing class of the International Offshore Rule racing the Quarter Ton Cup between 1967 and 1996 and from 2005 until today.

The class is sailed by smaller keelboats of similar size and is likely the world's most-produced keelboat class.

The Ton, Half, Quarter, etc. 'classes' were each given a 'length' and yacht designers had almost free rein to work the hull shapes and measurements to achieve the best speed for that nominal length.

The Ton Rules produced cranky and tender boats without actual downwind speed. Measurement points created weird, almost square hull shapes with longish overhangs.

They were challenging to sail optimally and lost value very quickly as any new wrinkle (e.g. 'bustles') to take advantage of the rule made older boats very quickly uncompetitive.

Although its heyday was 30 years ago, the boat class continues to make its presence felt by holding its own in terms of popularity against some fern race fleets.